Perhaps the largest congregation of rickshas in Bandra , a hub for the drivers is Bandra Reclamation ,, from Lal Mitti till the end of Bandra Reclamation you can see the rickshas parked in the wee hours of the morning for the morning shift.
Most of the ricksha drivers are from Uttar Pradesh and most of them are from Kannauj a few are from Allahabad .
Some of the rich rickshawallas have rented rooms at Lal Mitti or at Nargis Dutt Nagar and live as a community , maybe up to ten in a room and they share the rent possibly.
Most of the rickshah belong to the drivers or to the bosses ..a large number of ricksha drivers live in their rickshas , sleep in the rickshas , As there is no public toilet at Lal Mitti most of them use the mound of Rang Sharda , They bathe at other public toilets it seems .. and tea and snacks at the the lady Chaiwali at the corner of Bandra Reclamation.
Close to this ladys tea stall is another tea stall near the MNS office he makes vada pav pav bhaji and has a booming business and has a tea stall too.
In the morning when I set out for my walk the ricksha wallas or all up , and they have hired a few guys who clean their rickshas , I know most of the drivers as they take me on my trips around Bandra Juhu or Kurla.
And as most of them know I am a Dam Madar Malang the Holy Shrine of Makanpur is very close to Kannauj, they are very hospitable and kind..and hospitality and kindness is not the key words in the dictionary of the rickshawala.
But compared to the Bandra Shastri Nagar sharing ricksha goons these guys are more timid and not that blunt or rough.
But they get robbed by cops too,beaten and bullied and have to bear the torture , so most of the Rickshas here are are affiliated to one political party or another .
And these are my mental estimate of the ricksha guys i have talked to , I have not interviewed them per se.
And somebody more journalistic than me should do a storu on these migrant workers all UP based and sadly none were invited to the Tilak ceremony of the Mulayam Singh scion at Saifai.
And seeing the happy lot of Delhi rickshawalla who have a great patron in Mr Arvind Kejriwal they hope that he comes to Mumbai and takes up their cause as they say the Unions here are only self beneficiaries and have done nothing to save them from rogue cops and others.And most of them tell me they would support the Am Admi Party to get a better deal and better prospects living here ..some are Mumbai based voters among these lot ,their patrons and sponsors who are rich rickshaw owners .Most of them predominantly are Muslims .
I think the Hindu ricksha drivers UP migrants are from Gazdar Bandh.. one of the biggest ricksha hubs of Santacruz .all parked at North Avenue close to the Potohar Gurudwara.
